The indispensable skill

Take the risk

It is crucial that young players experience the dynamic nature of football and the context in which decisions have to be made, as well as being exposed to opportunities to explore and experiment with jeopardy as a backdrop. In these environments the coach should always encourage the players to try things and be prepared to push the boundaries of what they know and can do. It’s always better to make a mistake than not try anything.

Because of this, opposition is vital to learning and practice. Knowing how to exploit receiving and controlling the ball to one’s advantage is best learned and practised in game play, even when these skills are not completely secure. That is the trade-off, and the coach has to make that call.

“It’s always better to make a mistake than not try anything”

Experimenting and risk-taking are of critical importance; for example, on receiving the ball, when to guide it beyond the defender using a big touch, or using a smaller, tighter touch when receiving the ball in front of the defender; how to receive and control the ball with your back to the defender, or how to receive and control the ball to turn using multiple touches or no touches to do so; learning and practising how to see the spaces you need to exploit and guide the ball into them while making the defender believe you want to go somewhere else.

Game-like activities based on challenges are useful for players working on their decision-making processes as well as their technical competences. 
So in a small-sided game a coach can test the players in some of the following ways:

• space – look for a space you may use before you get the ball
• control – try to select your controlling surface as the ball travels to you
• touch – how many touches do you need to turn and play forward?
• guiding – look for opportunities to guide the ball into a space before executing your next action
• receiving and sending – look for opportunities to pass off one or two touches.

Knowing where the ball is, knowing where your opponent is, knowing where you want to go with the ball and what you want to do with it next - all before you get it - will help greatly if you are to be successful more often than not.

To get a career as a professional footballer you don’t have to be able to score goals, head the ball, tackle, dribble or run with the ball. You do have to be prepared to run around, pass the ball well, turn with the ball effectively and have an excellent first touch and be able to control the ball to your advantage.

As well as the obvious marker of the scoreline, football matches are won by exploiting space. Before a team or individual can exploit space, they must create and maintain it. Space is created through coordinated team play, individual players’ high skill levels or opponents giving the ball away. The player whose receiving and controlling skills are poor needs more time and space to execute what is required than the player whose receiving and controlling skills are good. To achieve good ball control, a player must understand what is involved, how they can improve and then be willing to put in the hours of practice required to make those adjustments.

Match play and game-based practice will ultimately produce the biggest dividend as players practice their performance in realistic situations cooperating with and competing against other players.

This promotes understanding of when to do what (decision-making) and when and when not to take unnecessary risks. Different types of receiving and controlling skills are required for different areas of the pitch; for example:

• a full-back receiving the ball from the goalkeeper out wide higher up the pitch than their deepest midfield player is a far different proposition from an inverted full-back receiving the ball from their goalkeeper five or six yards outside their own penalty area
• a winger aiming to exploit the space behind defenders and receiving ground or aerial passes at speed as opposed to coming short towards the passer with the defender positioned behind them
• first-touch skills in midfield areas of the pitch to retain possession, rather than touching the ball into a space to create the angle for a defence-splitting pass.

Speed, agility, acceleration

In the modern game at the highest levels, the ball is in play for longer than ever before. Speed, agility and acceleration are now central to the athletic prowess of the best players. Because of this, the game is getting quicker. The speed the ball travels between players in passing sequences and combinations is faster. Consequently, there are more opportunities to receive and control the ball in a top-level match than ever before, so understanding how to be effective in this environment is a wise move, and constant and regular practice is advisable. As we all know, practice makes receiving and controlling ball skills permanent, secure and unbreakable, even under intense matchday pressures.

“Match play and game-based practice will ultimately produce the biggest dividend as players practice their performance in realistic situations cooperating with and competing against other players”